1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of table games and especially to table games with electronic components enabling wager resolutions within the gaming table.
2. Background of the Art
Gaming technology has advanced significantly over the years, and especially within the past two decades since the introduction and allowance of intelligent systems into the field. The use of processors, video displays, electronic accounting, and general processor control over gaming systems has provided much greater breadth in the types and controls of games used within the gaming industry.
The biggest impact that artificial intelligence and processor technology has had on the gaming industry has been in the video gaming segment of the industry and with respect to the potential for on-line gaming.
The use of video displays and processors in the design of slot type gaming apparatus (generally referred to as slot machines or video machines) has provided significant types of entertainment value and game play and images not previously available on the predominantly mechanical systems. Virtual images provide better artistic input into designs, and the processor technology allows for complex wagers and complex paylines to be resolved quickly and accurately.
The electronic technology has been less significant within the table game segment of the gaming industry. The technology has provided for some cardless gaming tables (virtual playing cards are randomly provided by a processor), electronic wagering (with physical cards, bonus wagers and/or virtual playing cards) and some available signage on the table. Roulette and dice wagering has also been implemented, which also allows for easier resolution of complex wagering.
In analyzing the underlying mathematics of gambling games, several statistical parameters are used. In particular, every wager made has a house advantage, which is the average percentage of such wager that the house expects to win on each play of the game. So, for a game with a two percent house advantage, the house expects, in the long run, to win an average of two cents for every dollar wagered. Of course, this is an average over a large number of plays. In the short term, the actual results for the player will vary to some degree from this average. The degree to which the short-term results vary from the long-term average expected house win is referred to as the volatility index, or more succinctly, the volatility of the game.
The volatility of any game of chance is calculated as the standard deviation for one round, betting one unit. Generally, the greater the short-term swings of wins and losses, the greater the volatility. Another way to view this is that games with a large number of small wins have lower volatility than games with a smaller number of large wins.
One feature that has been suggested for implementation on electronic video gaming apparatus includes an ability of players to alter paytables in such a way that they alter the volatility in the games being played. Such proposed technology exclusively for video gaming equipment is described in the following exemplary references.
U.S. Published Patent Application Document No. 20080081688 (Plowman) describes a gaming machine that provides a wagering game, including a user interface in communication with a game controller, through the operation of which a player selects one of a plurality of wager options that determine a number of symbols to be active and inactive in the wagering game. For at least one said wager option at least one, but not all of the plurality of symbols that define a possible said winning combination are rendered inactive for forming the winning combination. The gaming machine includes a console having a display on which is displayed representations of a game that can be played by a player.
U.S. Published Patent Application Document No. 20070060252 (Taylor) describes a gaming device in which a player may select from several mathematical bias settings of volatility. Each setting results in different volatility, the mathematical parameter of statistical dispersion of results between fewer numbers of lower rewards and larger numbers of greater rewards. The player may receive indicia of the settings of volatility and may alter volatility settings during various stages of play. The player may alter reel strips in order to accomplish volatility changes or other methods of change of the volatility of the game may be provided.
U.S. Published Patent Application Document No. 20050282610 (Palmer) describes a processor controlled gaming device having a display device in communication with the processor. When the display device receives an input from the player, gaming device randomly generates an outcome, the display device displays an event having the outcome and the gaming device provides the player with a payout in association with the outcome and the selected input. The inputs have paytables that vary in range. One input has a large, risky payout range with big and small payouts. One input has a small, conservative payout range with intermediate payouts. Other inputs have ranges that fall in between the risky and conservative ranges. Each of the ranges has the same overall expected value, so that the gaming device does not favor the player's choice of a risky or conservative input.
U.S. Published Patent Application Document No. 20150087377 (Yee) discloses methods of administering games of roulette may involve accepting a wager may from a player on numerous different structural platforms. A multiplier may be randomly selected from a group of fixed multipliers for a payout on the wager. A number and associated color may be randomly generated from within a range of numbers and associated colors. The wager may be resolved by determining whether the randomly generated number is identical to a randomly generated number from an immediately preceding round. A payout may be paid to the player when the randomly generated number is identical to the randomly generated number from the immediately preceding round, an amount of the payout being equal to an amount of the wager multiplied by the randomly selected multiplier. The amount of the wager may be collected for the house when the randomly generated number is different from the randomly generated number from the immediately preceding round.
Electronic gaming tables or intelligent gaming tables are known in the gaming art for simulated play of table games, including playing card games. These systems may be entirely electronic, without any physical game elements except for the electronic apparatus itself, or may blend in physical gaming components in a hybrid system where dice are tossed or read (in a confined enclosure or on a gaming table), a roulette ball is dropped into a spinning wheel (in a read or enclosed system) or where physical playing cards are randomly provided to players with electronic reading and identification of cards and ranks or counts at individual player positions. Examples of these systems are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,529,345 (Nguyen); 8,506,376 (Kuhn); 8,376,362 (Nicely); 8,348,747 (Arezina); 8,333,6752 (Nguyen); 8,287,380 (Nguyen); 8,277,314 (Wolf); 8,272,958 (Smith); 8,272,945 (Kelly); 8,262,475 (Snow); 8,147,316 (Arezin); 8,142,271 (Kuhn); 8,087,903 (Longway); 7,661,676 (Smith); 7,309,065 (Yoseloff); and a series of patents to Soltys (U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,517,435; 6,517,436; 6,519,283; 6,520,857; 6,527,271; 6,530,836; 6,530,837; 6,532,297; 6,533,276; 6,533,661 among other). All cited references are incorporated herein in their entirety.